Well friends,
Made a little more progress today with Black Betty's (that sweet girl) recovery. Nothing much, but got the stage 1 brace in place.
A very good friend that I owe many favors loaned me his plasma cutter for gusset fabrication and any other such nonsense as I see fit to use it on. So I decided to learn the tech on a piece of relatively easy, box section 25mm x 3mm mild steel that I wanted to use for the first brace to go in.
Stuck the steering damper pin holder back on and marked the "keep out" areas for future welding... of course promptly cleaned them off again with a flapper wheel, after some more welding, but it was good to know where stuff needed to stay flat.
Decided that the next level beyond CAD (cardboard aided design) is FAD. (foil aided design). Cut and folded up several layers of foil to resemble the surface of the box section steel, then trimmed to fit the area for installation: I think this technique will be more useful, when it comes time to figure out what shape of flat plate to cut, to wrap around the steering head for a gusset.
Got the angles and lengths kinda close, so marked up the steel and lit the plasma cannon:
I think it is capable of making much cleaner cuts, but I freehanded it, and was within 5 ft. of a bench grinder, so didn't overthink it.
Played match and grind for a few minutes, and got it to fit around the curves pretty well, and tight into the "V" that the tubes make.
Piled up some molten goo, hit it with a flapper wheel, and called it an evening:
Ends of the brace span the welded up fractures. Should add a little strength to the system.
Tomorrow, I will work on the wrap around gusset that will connect to the front of the "V" at the top, then fold down the sides, behind the cross piece I added today. Will likely attach it to the cross piece, towards the back, as well.
Relatively easy day in the shop, and at least learned how to turn on a plasma cutter. Handy thing to have at your finger tips while doing this sort of thing.
Well friends,
The debauchery in metal continues...
Took up another round of FAD (foil aided design) to mock up a wrap around gusset over the brace I put on, yesterday.
Claude donated a pretty decent chunk of 3mm steel, that felt like it is a little tougher alloy than the stuff at home depot, at least judging from the grinder sparks and drilling a couple of holes.
Couple of holes for later plug welds:
Getting a little better with the plasma cutter; Claude says I could do a lot better, though!
Tacked it in place:
Headed it up cherry red with the gas torch, along the bend line, then hammered it around the tube:
Clamped it tight and tacked it down.
Welded the edges and did a plug weld on each side:
Think I'm gonna call it done and slap some paint on it, tomorrow.
Basically, from this:
To this:
Well friends,
For today's bit of metal debauchery, I decided to take a shot at a proof of concept, maybe even a prototype, for the strut to spread the front wheel forces out a little from just the steering head, down to the subframe (a little bit, at least.)
So I shot a little paint on the steering head repairs/mods from yesterday:
Put a piece of tape on the cross brace/fender mount, shone a laser on it, marked it, then checked the mark with magic marker, while turning the steering lock to lock, to make sure I had the "immovable point of rotation center point" marked.
Then dug around in my scrap pile for an original DMC WA "A" arm to cut up for the brace: This one volunteered, since it had donated its other end to the "A" arm braces that triangulate the current A arm mounts from snapping their welds on moderately brisk riding.
Sliced a chunk off, then did the first of MANY test fits, cutting a little more off each time and checking for steering interference. Many trips to the saw and grinder.
Drilled the fender mount and stuck a bolt in, then tacked things in place and continued to check for steering interference or general weirdness. Only weirdness that showed up was the nut holding the saw (and later a torch.)
Drove a steel rod that just fit into the strut mount tube in about 6 inches (as far as it would go, before the bend.) Cut it off and welded it to the end of the tube. Should give a little support to that flimsy tube.
Welded it up, melting down into that rod with a bunch of amps, tightened everything up, and declared it good.
That fender mount may be a little flimsy in the sheet metal portion, but I am going to run it that way for awhile and look for stress and see how the idea works as a whole, before I beef it up. It may be fine, and a little flex might be better than none at all.
So there you have it... a telelever that doesn't move, because it don't want to.
You just need to imagine the force pushing backwards, when the front wheel hits a crossways rut hard, and it sort of makes sense.
I'm not sure...whether you are the Nutty Professor...or an Evil Genius
VS 
Two Million Mile Rider...All 7 Continents
Exploring the World in Comfort
A bit of both it would seem.
Still transferring the flex forces into the frame at a lower point has merit.
Young fella may have started a must do mod for those that insist upon flogging perfectly good rigs around deserts at night.
Must some sort of market out there.
@brstr Time will tell if it adds any robustness to the system! I know it made me tired... I slept about 10 hours after finishing that up, last night! Heading out to the shop to paint and start hanging radiators and such back on the bike, while trying to remember where each of what seems like hundreds of connectors route to! (another reason I take so many pictures along the way!)
Well Friends,
Can't say as I accomplished much in the reassembly process.
Painted the new brace. Reasonably pleased with how it turned out, for the level of effort that I put in: If it looks like it does any good, I may redesign it a little cleaner, but probably won't:
Started the long slog of hooking stuff back up to the bike.
Got most of the crap back on, on top of the engine; pair valve, coil packs, hoses, cables, etc.
Got the radiators on, replumbed, and full. Lotta hoses there, running through very specific openings across the engine.
Went to remount the airbox back on top of the engine, and discovered a little miscalculation on my part about just how much room I had to play with for braces. Ended up cutting some metal out, fiddling with the airbox, then putting a smaller triangle back in. Probably wasted an hour or so on this, and still have a hole in the airbox to seal up, tomorrow... it's always something:
Had just put away all the welding related gear, as well:
A little mod to the airbox that will get sealed with a combination of thin aluminum sheet, JB Weld, and plenty of tiny brass screws around the perimeter of the hole, from the outside. (Less likely to end up in the engine.)
Could have thought that one through a little better, but such is life. It will be fine, after some wasted time.
Overall, not a whole lot left to do to get it back on the road. There are some inner plastic pieces that all the cables mount to, that will be a lot of fun to sort out. Will need to consult Partzilla's parts diagrams to jog my memory on those. Who knows, maybe have it running for the weekend.
I take it the front wheel turns (steers) easily?
@brstr yep. Full range of movement, lock to lock, no resistance if i turn the damper off.
Rumor has it the next iteration of the Africa Twin will be supercharged.
When the road going prototypes are ready for testing, Honda should drop one off at your house. 👍
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Well friends,
I doesn't feel like it, but I think I made a little progress towards roadworthiness today.
We left off with me having cut a little relief into the bracing that I installed between the frame tubes, but ultimately deciding that I would bastardize Uncle Sochiro's beautiful airbox design in the name of making it fit.
I cut out a curved divot from the nose of the airbox on the bottom. I do not imagine that decreasing it's volume by a couple hundred cc's will have any noticeable performance impact. I'm assuming the designers said something like "hey, let's use all the available space for a nifty airbox that will resonate sweetly at 8,000 rpm." So they did, but I decided I needed those 200 or so cc's to not have to struggle with fitment.
Cut it out and then roughed up the area around the opening with a 36 grit flapper wheel.
Back to FAD (foil aided design).
Picked up a sheet of 0.5 mm aluminum and marked a shape:
Roughed it out:
Put a couple screws int to hold it in place, cut a few fold lines, and hammered it around the opening:
Who knew? Our friends at JB Weld make a version for bonding metal to plastic...
Squirt, squirt, mixy mix, spready spread:
Installed about 30 screws around the perimeter while the JB was still gooey. Hammered the edges down flush until the JB oozed out, wiped clean and let it set for a while.
Suites me fine:
Now you say, well why aren't you out riding, on this fine evening in Skunk Hollow?
Well.... Continued reassembly, got the connectors all hooked up, put the gas tank (and fuel pump) back on, and lit her up to check for leaks.
Was kind of worried about all the coolant lines I removed and replaced back on, but that was not an issue. Instead, I made the rookie mistake of letting the rubber valve cover gasket, towards the front of the engine, get out of it's groove. Puked a teacup full of oil on the floor and the exhaust pipes.
Got to tear all the stuff off the top of the engine, again, but went considerably faster, since I didn't have to fool with the radiators and all the wiring harness stuff attached to them.
Got the gasket sorted out and tightened back down, and decided to call it an evening.
We'll see how things go tomorrow! At least I know the airbox fits, now.
This is really moving along well. 😎
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Well friends, that bad bitch is back on the road!
As of about 4 am.
Finished up with figuring out most of the connectors and cable rounting (still have an issue with the heated grips, apparently but maybe it is a connector not seated... it isn't in too deep and I left the pretty pretty plastics off undil I ride it around for a few days and validate my "engineering" and keep an eye open for leaks; oil or coolant, since both systems were opened.
Couldn't resist a rip around Skunk Hollow, after letting it set and idle until the fans kicked on, and no apparent leaks or check engine lights.
Took her around on pavement, maybe 10 miles of city streets. Not much traffic at 4 am, so could play a little with slaloms and cornering in general.
So... take it with a grain of salt, but she has never handled this good, before.
Comparison after riding for who knows how long with a cracked frame is tough, since you would think about anything would seem like a major improvement, but there is a rigidity and precision that was never there before.
Goes down the road straight, no pulls up to "highway speed" ahemm... corners like it's on rails.
We'll see how long it lasts, but overall, I am pretty happy with the result.
@SIDECARUSA">@SIDECARUSA , Jon, I sincerely appreciate your thoughts above, and all the help over the past couple of years. I'm just crazy enough to trust my work on the steering head and the telever-like brace I put on the LL, more than If I would have just bought a new frame and not done the telever.
I may be a little more cautious on the rough stuff, but I'm feeling pretty good about the rig being stronger than it has ever been. It may not be strong enough, but I think I can wring some more miles out of it while I sort out the whole "do I work" or "do I retire" nonsense. If I take another Megatech job, I may throw some serious money at the next build, even if it is mostly equipment and tools.
@3legs , your thoughts carry a lot of weight. I never really thought much of the old UJM double cradle frames, during the day. I always figured they were heavy, but mostly made out of butter or something. Will have to consider it. My rig criteria still includes the idea of signficant creature comfort on long highway miles, along with being able to pull off into the hinterlands and bounce around in the ditches with impunity.
There are not many setups that can do both well. Great street rides compromise offroad. Off road rigs with durability and capability tend to not be so much fun on the street, for long hauls.
Next rig may be more biased to offroad, and then BBTBB can become a highway queen! It's only money, right?
Kinda keeping an eye on the Mobec builds, but sheesh that is some coin!
Anyway, time for beddy bye... Will update after riding somewhere interesting.
Congratulations! Man, that has to feel great! Thanks for sharing. It is always great to read a success story. 🍻
My vote goes for retirement! Enjoy the heck out of life while still having the body and ambition to get out and party. 🤩
Second choice would be build a complete motorcycle frame specifically engineered for sidecar use (real engineering with structural analysis). All motorcycles are designed with frame flexure to aid handling and stability.
Preaching to the choir here, but does bear repeating: Sidecar use has very different needs from motorcycles (on and off road). No matter what motorcycle you buy it will always be an issue for your intended purposes.
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
